NYC Marathon weekend: Trump plans traffic-clogging jaunt to New York to boost mega donor’s Ultimate Fight show
Relations November 2, 2020 0 COMMENTS
Not-so-dearly departing New Yorker President Trump, on the eve of delivering two days of gridlock to his now-spurned hometown, ripped into Mayor de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo, high local taxes and the supposedly lousy economy Friday in a Twitter tirade that lacked both tact and a spell-check.
The topsy-turvy four-tweet rant took a typical Trumpian turn at the end, with the Queens native declaring the city and state were “wonerful” and cheering its “prople” before signing off with “I Love New York!”
The fusillade from the Florida-bound Trump came on the eve of the gridlocker-in-chief’s weekend smack-down to traffic-weary city dwellers: An ethically-challenged overnight visit that will close roads and impose heightened security measures on the already hectic weekend of the New York City Marathon.
The former resident of his eponymous Fifth Ave. tower is jetting into town for the Ultimate Fighting Championship at Madison Square Garden. It’s an extraordinary public boost to Dana White, a top Trump donor and the man behind the body-slamming $79.98 pay-per-view extravaganza.
The presidential fight night will force road shutdowns across midtown Manhattan on Saturday and Sunday, as well as force tighter security on busy Fifth Avenue when Trumps spends Saturday night at his home.
That’s a tag-team of trouble for New Yorkers already facing citywide road closures starting at 1 a.m. Sunday for the Marathon, which steps off early Sunday and finishes in Central Park — a stone’s throw away from Trump’s famed pied-a-terre.
“I usually save my ‘Oy veys’ for UN Week or December Gridlock, but I’m saying it this weekend with the marathon in all five boroughs during a POTUS visit,” said Sam Schwartz, the New York traffic expert otherwise known as Gridlock Sam.[More Politics] NYC lawmakers to speak at kink-themed fundraiser for sex workers’ rights group »
The visit comes just days after Trump announced that he is dumping New York as his official home in favor of the Sunshine State, and just after he blasted the local officials — and in Cuomo’s case, his brother Chris as well.
“I love New York, but New York can never be great again under the current leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo (the brother of Fredo), or Mayor Bill DeBlasio,” tweeted Trump Friday, mockingly comparing the CNN host with the fumbling, bumbling son of fictional “Godfather” mob boss Don Corleone.
The governor speculated Friday that the commander-in-chief is trading Midtown for Mar-a-Lago in an attempt to keep his tax returns away from the prying eyes of prosecutors.
“My hypothesis is that Mr. Trump changed his residence for legal purposes,” the governor said. “He is in the middle of a lawsuit where a number of agencies, including the Manhattan District Attorney, are trying to get his taxes. He’s resisting releasing his taxes.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has requested a look at eight years of Trump’s tax returns as he probes how the Trump Organization documented hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.
The details of presidential trips are a closely held secret for obvious reasons. But past Trump visits to New York involved motorcade rides up and down the FDR Drive.
Trump the fight fan will have to get across town to the Garden for the big event and then to his Fifth Ave. home. He’ll go back to Washington D.C. at an unannounced time on Sunday.
The shutdowns could hardly come on a worse weekend.
The marathon is one of the city’s biggest and most disruptive events of the entire year. More than 50,000 runners start on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island just after dawn and wind their way on a 24.2-mile course through all five boroughs. Up to 2.5 million New Yorkers and tourists will clog the sidewalks to cheer on runners.
Marathon officials and a White House spokesperson insisted Trump’s overnight stay won’t affect the big race.
“We do not anticipate any impact on the marathon from the president’s visit,” said Chris Weiller, a spokesman for New York Road Runners, which organizes the marathon.
It’s not clear what Trump’s night of sports entertainment will cost taxpayers who foot the bill for the president’s comings and goings.
But it certainly will pay dividends for UFC president Dana White, an old friend and business partner of Trump. When the mixed martial arts sports genre was in its controversial infancy, Trump gave it an invaluable platform for the fight shows at his casinos in Atlantic City.
White never forgot the leg up. He became a big-money Trump donor who forked over the maximum allowed donation to Trump’s GOP primary and general election campaign just months after Trump’s victory in 2016.
And after getting booed by Washington Nationals fans at a World Series game last weekend, the president could be looking for some love from the ultimate fight crowd, where at least one big-name athlete is an admitted Trump fan.
“Real recognize(s) real,” said Jorge Masvidal, a Cuban-American fighter who is one of the marquee names in the ring Saturday night, told MMAFighting.com. “No matter what your views are on Trump as a president, the guy’s a bad motherf-er, man.”
